New technologies have made it easier than ever for people to get the news. This is in stark contrast to previous centuries, when there were fewer news sources and it could take days or even months for important news to travel long distances. Have students brainstorm a list of modern news sources, such as newspapers, radio, the Internet, television, e-mail, or text messaging. Next, have students brainstorm a list of news sources from previous centuries, such as telegrams or the town crier.

Arrange the class in small groups and assign each group one of these news sources to research. Students should find out when and where the method was first used, when people stopped using it, and so on. Then have students work together using the ReadWriteThink Interactive Timeline to create a visual timeline showing the evolution of the news over time. See also the Timeline Tool page for information and activity ideas.

In The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963, Curtis examines America's stuggle for civil rights, through the eyes of a family that gets caught up in the turmoil of 1963. Have your students explore a civil rights issue by writing poetry, using the Acrostic Poems interactive. First, as a class, brainstorm a list of civil rights issues, notable figures, places, and events from American history. Examples could include Birmingham, Martin Luther King, Jr., segregation, and Rosa Parks. Then have students use the Acrostic Poems interactive to create their poems.

If you do not have access to the Internet, students can create acrostic poems without using the interactive. First, have each student select a topic for his or her poem. Next, ask them to brainstorm a list of key words that describe or remind them of their topic. Then have students use the list of words they generated to help them write their poems.

Celebrate Get Caught Reading Month with a reading-related service project. Try one of these activities with your students:

• Plan an intergenerational reading day. Invite seniors to visit your school, or arrange a trip for your students to a local senior center. Have students select books to read to adults, and invite adults to share a favorite story with students. Extend an ongoing invitation to guest readers, perhaps on a monthly basis.
  
  
• Organize a book drive to collect new or nearly new books to supplement your classroom or school library, or to donate to families or a local children's hospital.

Be sure to have a camera on hand to "catch your students reading" on film throughout the month. You can also have students organize a community "Get Caught Reading" campaign by taking photos of members of their families and community figures (firefighters, grocers, local police officers, etc.) caught reading, and creating a school display.

Because of their circular plot structure, Numeroff's books are natural resources for classroom activities on cause and effect and making predictions. Using one of Numeroff's books as a model, students can use the circle plot structure as a culminating project for nearly any unit of study. For instance, consider such project titles as the following:

• If You Tax Our Tea, for a unit on colonial America
• If You Recycle an Aluminum Can, for a unit on the process of recycling
• If You Visit a Rainforest, for a unit on the plants and animals in a rainforest

The online Circle Plot Diagram can help students gather their ideas, and then they can publish their work with the ReadWriteThink Printing Press.

Have your students write their own letters that make things happen. Students can write individual letters, or work in small groups or as a full group. Letter writing can be a culminating project after you've completed a unit of study on a particular topic. For instance, if you've just completed a unit on animals, students might write letters to the local zoo, praising them for the ways that they care for animals or making suggestions for changes. After exploring freedom of speech in a censorship unit, students might write letters to the editor of the local newspaper explaining their feelings about specific books that are (or aren't) included in the library.

In addition to the resources available in the Letter Generator and on the Letter Generator page, there are resources available from Gallaudet University that demonstrate how to write advocacy letters. The American Civil Liberties Union provides tips on writing letters to the editor and letters to elected officials, which can be useful for projects where students are looking at issues of civil rights, freedom of speech, and student rights.

Have you ever wondered what things would look like in Hamelin from the rats' point of view? Read aloud The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, winner of the 2001 Carnegie Medal. The synopsis of the book included in this resource guide shows why librarians in the United Kingdom named this book the "outstanding book for children and young people" published in 2001.

After sharing this book with students, have them compare Pratchett's version with Browning's version. After discussing how perspective changes the story, you can have students look at other fairy tale retellings such as Jon Scieszka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.

The words Armstrong spoke (audio from NASA) as he stepped onto the moon were carefully chosen. Even so, Armstrong is reported to have made a mistake. NASA planned for Armstrong to say, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" (emphasis mine); however, he left out the word "a" when he stepped onto the moon's surface. Begin your exploration of Armstrong's famous words by discussing the all-important difference that one word can make. Take the opportunity to discuss the gendered language that Armstrong uses as well.

After exploring Armstrong's words in detail, turn to a discussion of why those words were chosen. In a speech at Rice University on September 12, 1962, President John F. Kennedy said, "We choose to go to the moon! We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things-not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our abilities and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win."

How do Armstrong's words connect to Kennedy's, how do they connect to the mission at large, and how do they represent the space program?

Your class can publish books and other documents just like Newbery. Have each student choose a book that is special-it could be a favorite book or a book that reminds him or her of something special-then write a short story about why the book was chosen and why it deserves special mention.

Using the Stapleless Book Planning Sheet, students can plan the pages of their own stories before entering the information in the Stapleless Book tool. For longer projects, students can use the ReadWriteThink Printing Press.

Take your class on a nature walk near your school, or have them focus on a natural setting nearby. As students walk or view the setting, ask them to take note of the details of the surroundings and make a mental "snapshot" of the location in their minds.

Once they return to class, have students write their notes during a focused writing session, making sure to capture the details of the setting. After the initial writing session, students can revise and polish their writing and create a class booklet of the nature walk, using the ReadWriteThink Printing Press.

The Scopes Trial focused on the evolution of mammals, but the word evolution can refer to other objects and processes, such as tools, computers, and automobiles. Have your students brainstorm a list of objects and processes that have changed over time. Then, individually or in small groups, invite students to choose and focus on one item from the list. Allow them to use the interactive Timeline tool to sketch out the changes, or evolution, of the items that they have chosen. View more tips to learn more about the tool. After considering the changes that have occurred for the items, have students examine the significance of the changes. In their opinions, have the changes affected the world for the better or for worse? Students can then share their information and opinions with the whole class.

Conclude the project by posting all of the timelines on your classroom wall, creating a giant timeline of the evolution of the items your students have investigated. Invite students to look for patterns as well as to connect the timelines to historical events that occurred during the same time period. For a more structured activity, try the resources in the ReadWriteThink lesson Timelines and Texts: Motivating Students to Read Nonfiction.